SHREWSBURY BIG T WN PLAN Project Partners: Created and designed by: In association with: July 2018 Version 10 FOREWORD This Big Town Plan heralds a step change. A change in how we work collaboratively as a town and a change in what we can achieve together. This is the first time that there has been a genuine willingness of all the key partners to pool resources and work cohesively to plan for our town’s future with realistic, practical and sustainable aspirations – with a clear route map of how we get there. It is ambitious and bold, reshaping the physical public realm and matching it with an outstanding public experience. Through this Plan, we revolutionise movement around our town and attract vital investment. We are continually listening to what the public wants to see happen, and have taken soundings and insights from businesses and key stakeholders. We are putting people at the heart of the town, so it becomes an even better place to live, visit, work and invest. The Big Town Plan provides the springboard to achieve it. Now it’s time together to make it happen. Mike Matthews, Chair of Shrewsbury Councillor Nic Laurens, Portfolio Councillor Alan Mosley, Leader of Business Improvement District Holder for Economic Growth, Shrewsbury Town Council Shropshire Council 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE BIG TOWN VISION HOW WE ADAPT AND EVOLVE THE BIG TOWN FRAMEWORK PRIORITIES AND NEXT STEPS INTRODUCTION Shrewsbury’s Big Town Plan clearly sets out The Big Town Plan is made-up of two parts. The Our aim is to put people at the heart of our plan- how we want to shape the evolution of the town first part is a shared vision which charts the making and place-making and we want to achieve over the next two decades. It is the result of an course ahead for the Town and sets the level of this in four ways: extraordinary coming together of individuals ambition. The second part is a framework plan and organisations, decision-makers, business which shows how and where we want change Rethinking movement and place; leaders, Council officers and local experts, to happen in the town. Over a period of just a Supporting, creating and nurturing working together to refresh previous Shrewsbury few months individuals and organisations have vitality, life and a mix of uses; visioning work that informed the Local Plan, in a worked together to set out the vision and to Creating a place for enterprise; new way that has not happened before that re- agree a far-reaching framework plan, making best Nurturing natural Shrewsbury. establishes its relevance. use of the in-depth understanding and knowledge within the town and bringing in some of the Everyone involved is united by two things; an best outside expertise in town visioning and abiding love of the town; and, an ambition to development planning. This is the result. shape the town’s future, ensuring that it thrives in the future. THE BIG T WN VISI N We see the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan as a blueprint for how County Towns or other towns might adapt and evolve in the middle part of the 21st Century. As the birthplace of the father of evolutionary science we want to celebrate Darwin’s legacy by developing the Big Town Plan as a blueprint for thoughtful and purposeful change and adaptation in the Town into the future. We recognise how special Shrewsbury is and we want Shopping patterns have changed, the independents to direct and manage change in a way that is sensitive and destination brands are thriving, people spend to its identity and its character. Our Big Town Vision more time in town, browsing, shopping, eating and supports the Local Plan to provide balanced growth drinking in roof-top bars and visiting the cinema. In the over the next two decades in a way that is centred evening, people stroll up and down Smithfield, now on people and place, with more attention directed to free of traffic. New housing overlooks the river where encouraging development and life in the town centre the multi-storey and bus station used to be and people and those places on the edge of the town centre that sit out in new cafés enjoying the view and the evening are in need of new life and new purpose. We also want sun. to make those places on the edge of town better connected, giving them identity and character that The Market is going from strength to strength and makes them better places and feel a greater part of around it are clusters of new business start-ups, Shrewsbury. many connected to the growing University. The West End has changed too, the network of streets By 2036, we picture a Shrewsbury where in amongst and spaces including Mardol are largely traffic-free. the familiar landmarks and the timeless streets are Surface car parks have been repurposed and replaced exciting new and re-used buildings and new spaces with capacity at the edges of the town centre with where new life and new activities have taken hold. clear routes to move people into and around the Parts of the town that were once dormant have town centre so the town remains accessible to all now been re-colonised. Around the Station and the and the environment more welcoming. In their place northern corridor, it feels very different. Great new are a vibrant mix of uses including new parts of the buildings rub shoulders with re-used older buildings. University, workspace and apartments. It feels very New workers and residents pour in and out of the different walking down to Victoria Quay or to the links into town. There are now much closer networks station, under the brightly-lit railway arches and Quarry with new, high quality pedestrian routes. and links between the Hospital, healthcare, sports and colonise new cafes and the new square in front of the leisure and schools and colleges. Station. Cyclists make their way along the new “low- The whole town is much better connected by cycle or line” green corridor to the busy Flaxmill. on foot, in a safe way, avoiding conflict with vehicular We make decisions differently now. The Big Town Plan traffic . It is possible now to make your way across means that we test everything against the vision. New Traffic in the town centre is very light and slow- town by cycle or on foot. Not only is there a great development and new infrastructure has to pass what moving. Pedestrians and cyclists can walk and move network of routes into town but there are now new we will call “the Shrewsbury Test “. – referenced as wherever they want, making the streets their own. links to the River too and routes leading out into the the Shrewsbury Development Strategy (CS2) in the There are beautiful dramatic steps and escalators wider countryside. Places on the edge of town that adopted Core Strategy. Does it support our vision? cutting through the shopping centres and linking Pride once felt a bit soulless have changed too. Old-style Does it strengthen the identity of Shrewsbury? Is it Hill with a new traffic-free riverside promenade. retail and employment parks are now mixed-use right for that part of town and most importantly, does places with new housing, parks and greenspaces and it make life better for people? 6 H W WE ADAPT AND EV LVE The process of developing our Big Town Plan meant we needed to do three things: Firstly, to draw together our collective understanding of Shrewsbury. Secondly, gain a better understanding of the challenges facing towns like Shrewsbury Finally, we needed to exchange and test ideas and set our priorities for change under the four main headings. Improving our understanding of Shrewsbury To make the right decisions about how the town needs to adapt to the challenges ahead, more needed to be done to understand the town. The views of the 5,000 residents, visitors and businesses who visited the Big Town Plan pop-up shop / consultation event that took place in September 2017 were instrumental to this process. The analysis of their views and the capturing of their desires and aspirations provided insights that enabled in-depth individual knowledge, in addition to gathering data and mapping from different sources. By overlaying and simplifying these complex layers, clear patterns emerged. At the heart of this analysis was an ambition to understand the character and identity of different parts of the town. We also recognised that some parts of the town would be highly sensitive to change, in the historic centre for example, and other parts like the northern corridor where the right kind of change and intervention would be desirable. 9 10 Goals for Shrewsbury 1. We want to make it much better for the 6. We are very proud of our education Setting goals for Shrewsbury pedestrian and cyclist, especially in the establishments. We want to retain more The challenges facing Shrewsbury in the next two town centre. This means shifting the of our best young talent in the town and decades will bring about change whether we like it or balance of priority given to movement attract new talent from outside. We not. Many of them are universal pressures and others are more individual to Shrewsbury. We want to face across the town from the private car to want to support innovation and start- these challenges head-on and we will direct and shape walking and cycling and greater use of ups in exciting new places. the changes that emerge from them in the Big Town rail and bus.